We Found Each Other In The Dark
by bealeavable
Summary: A one-shot series about Chloe and Aubrey's friendship, and later on, Chloe and Beca's growing relationship. Mainly from Aubrey's perspective. Lots of fluff with a hint of angst.
1. Chapter 1

**A one-shot series about Chloe and Aubrey's friendship and later on, Beca and Chloe's relationship.**

**Chapter 1**

Chloe Beale is fourteen when she first meets Aubrey Posen.

Aubrey doesn't look like she wants company, but Chloe doesn't care because Chloe loves everyone and everything and thinks that she could get along _really _well with Aubrey because the first thing she notices about Aubrey is that Aubrey is wearing a dark red cashmere sweater, and Chloe _loves _dark red and cashmere.

Aubrey is sitting alone at one of the tables in the crowded cafeteria when Chloe notices her. Chloe puts her lunch down on the table and sits next to Aubrey. Aubrey thinks Chloe is way too close for comfort, so she shuffles away a little bit. Chloe waits for Aubrey to say hi orsomething, but Aubrey sits there with her lips slightly pursed.

"Hi! I'm Chloe. Beale. Chloe Beale." Chloe says.

Aubrey's eyes flicker towards Chloe, making eye contact with eyes that are almost _too _blue and seeing hair that is such a bright red that, with the right lighting, could seriously hurt someone's eyes, and mumbles, "Hello."

"You must be new here. Where are you from?"

"Washington."

"I have an uncle who lives there!"

Aubrey doesn't respond, but Chloe keeps going, because Chloe's uncle is from Washington and Aubrey is from Washington and _what are the odds?_

"So, why'd you move here?"

"My dad's job involves a lot of moving." _And stress, and fights, and pressure, and high standards, _Aubrey adds in her head.

Chloe is practically bouncing in her seat, though. "That's awesome! You must have been to _a lot _of different places. I think that's really cool. I want to travel when I grow up, but it looks like you've already got a head start! I think I definitely want to go to Belgium, which is weird, I guess, since not a lot of people want to go to Belgium usually. Have you been to Belgium? I heard the chocolate there was great. Have you moved lots?"

Aubrey stares at the redhead for a minute, because she cannot _believe _that one person could talk _so much_ about absolutely nothing of importance before she nods curtly.

"What electives are you taking? I mean, I know there aren't too many to choose from right now considering we're only in grade nine, but you know..."

"Choir and dance."

Chloe lets out this little squeal. "Oh my _God! _Me too!"

Aubrey loosens her stoic posture momentarily as her eyes dart from Chloe's face and back to her sandwich. _This girl doesn't seem like she's so bad at all. And I **never **make friends whenever I move..._

Chloe clears her throat, feeling the awkward silence press against her a little bit, and opens her mouth as if to say something before closing it and pulling out her lunch instead, accepting that Aubrey just doesn't seem to want to talk to her.

She doesn't leave, though. She knows she'll get through to her eventually.

She always does.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in a while. I didn't really get too much reception on this, so I wasn't very motivated to write another chapter but I'll keep going for people who are interested! This is just some Aubrey/Chloe brotp fluff. They talk about Aubrey potentially moving away, and Chloe gives her the nickname "Bree." Light and fluffy.**

**For now. (Evil laugh)  
**

It only takes about a week for Chloe and Aubrey to become close friends. Aubrey resists for the first two days, but her and Chloe have so much in common that it's impossible to not get along. Not to mention that the redhead seems to have a knack for picking subjects to talk about that Aubrey actually _wants _to talk about, like singing and dancing and the fact that both of them have overbearing fathers and her _huge _toner for John Mayer.

The two are rarely seen without each other during the course of the school year, except when they aren't in the same class together. Chloe eventually gets Aubrey to hang out with Chloe's group of friends, who are all just as bubbly and overenthusiastic as the redhead is. Aubrey's found her place in this school, the first time she's ever done so in any new school she's gone to.

Chloe and Aubrey are walking over to the Liberty Cafe after school, arms linked together and walking close to each other because it's _freezing _outside, when Chloe notices that Aubrey seems to be lost in thought. "Aubrey?"

Aubrey blinks, and looks over at Chloe. "Sorry, totally just zoned out there." She shudders because it's so cold.

Chloe tilts her head to the right as a gesture of curiosity. "Zoned out in thought?"

"Yeah."

"What thought?" Chloe pokes Aubrey's side gently with her free arm.

Aubrey jumps a little in shock, then sighs a little bit. "It's just that I've never really made friends at a school before." She glances over at Chloe, whose gaze softens a little bit. "I'm sorry, that totally made me sound like some pathetic loser-"

"No," Chloe says, smiling, "I'm glad that you're telling this to me."

Aubrey keeps going, now feeling comfortable with opening up, as she always eventually does around Chloe. "My dad's job requires a lot of moving, like I said to you when we first met. That meant that making friends was pretty much useless, because I mean, if I'm going to be leaving in less than a year, why bother, right?"

Chloe's blue eyes flash with concern for a second. "Does that mean-I mean, will you be leaving here, soon?"

It takes a moment for Aubrey to realize what Chloe's saying and her heart clenches a little bit once she realizes it. "I-I don't know," she says quietly, "but even if I do...Chloe, can we stay friends?"

Chloe is stunned. "What, just because you might move, you think we can't be friends anymore? C'mon, Bree. Of course we can. There are these new, innovative things called telephones and the internet."

Aubrey pauses for a moment. "Bree?"

"What? No one's called you Bree before?"

"Not really, no. I mean, no one's really had a reason to give me a nickname...The only people who really called my name before were my parents and teachers."

Chloe is a little saddened at this admittance from Aubrey, but she continues on with the conversation nonetheless.

"Huh. Well, I like 'Bree.' It's nice and simple." She smiles.

Aubrey smiles back because Chloe Beale's smiles are infectious and you can't not smile when you're around Chloe Beale.

She giggles a little. "Okay. You're kind of weird."

"You love it."

"I do."

They both walk in to the cafe, laughing at nothing in particular. Their noses and ears are both red from the cold and the sudden warmth makes them sting a little.

Chloe waves to the group of friends waiting for them at one of the bigger tables. Aubrey does the same.

A few of them get up to hug Chloe, and Aubrey is taken by surprise when they move on to hug Aubrey with the same unbridled enthusiasm that they had with Chloe.

She doesn't stop smiling the entire day. She has finally found her place somewhere, and it is amazing.


	3. Chapter 3

**I think what I'm going to do is upload 1-2 chapters per week on the weekends as I'm so busy with school on weekdays.**

**This chapter is another slightly fluffy one, where Chloe comes out to Aubrey (because I don't think I've really seen any fics where Chloe comes out)**

Chloe and Aubrey are in Aubrey's room, furiously typing on their separate laptops. Both of them are in the same English class and there is a huge essay due tomorrow that neither of them really started until tonight. It's 3AM and none of them are really even close to finishing. Chloe's leaning against the wall next to Aubrey's bed and Aubrey is leaning against the headrest of her bed, her legs slung over Chloe's. Both of them have empty coffee cups and bags of chips next to them, and neither of them have really spoken a word to each other in almost an hour.

They're in grade 11 now, and things couldn't be any better. Aubrey's father's job here in New York has stayed as a job in New York, and this is the longest Aubrey has ever stayed in one city.

Her and Chloe's group of friends are as tightly-knit as ever, but Aubrey and Chloe have this _bond _that they don't have with any other people in their circle of friends. Aubrey's almost proud of herself for that, as she only met Chloe two years ago, and she knows _everything _there is to know about the redhead.

Or, at least, she thinks she does.

She sees and hears Chloe stop typing and Aubrey looks up from the laptop that her eyes had been glued to for the past two hours. Chloe's looking at Aubrey with this weird, scared look in her eyes.

Aubrey starts freaking out internally. "Did you lose your essay without saving it? What's wrong?"

Chloe hesitates for a minute, and she bites her lower lip before putting her laptop next to her and drawing her legs up from underneath Aubrey's, holding her knees to her chest. "I have something I need to tell you."

Aubrey saves the document she was working on, shuts her laptop, and puts it down on the floor. "Okay...what's up? Are you okay?"

After another moment's hesitation, Chloe starts to nod, but then bites her lip again and starts fiddling with her fingers. "I'm fine. I just-umm..."

Aubrey raises an eyebrow. "Chloe, it's 3 in the morning. I'm not really in the mood to guess what's wrong with you."

Chloe takes a deep breath, and mumbles something very fast to Aubrey, who doesn't comprehend what she just said.

"Okay, either you're too tired and slurring your words, or I'm too tired and my hearing is impacted."

Chloe rubs her eyes a little. "I'm sorry. That was me." She takes another breath. "Aubrey, I think I'm gay. Or bisexual. I don't know yet. But I'm definitely not, you know, _just_ into guys."

Aubrey stares at Chloe for a minute, her tired brain trying to process what Chloe just said. "Why are you telling me this?" she starts to panic a little. "Oh, no, Chloe, do you have a crush on me or something? I'm so sorry, I'm not into girls-"

Chloe waves her hand to silence Aubrey. "No. I don't. I just really needed to say it."

Aubrey lets out a sigh of relief and brings her laptop up again. "In that case, okay. I'm glad you trusted me enough to tell me."

Chloe waits for a further reaction, but Aubrey continues typing her essay and doesn't say another word about the matter.

She smiles a small smile to herself, brings up her laptop, and starts to work on her essay.

Aubrey stops typing for a moment and looks at Chloe. "You know I still love you, right? We're still best friends."

Chloe starts tearing up a little bit because this was supposed to be a big, bad secret for her but Aubrey made it into a "not a big deal" deal and it's late and she can't help it. "Yeah. And I love you. Thank you for letting me say it."

Aubrey gently kicks Chloe's leg. "Shut up and work on your essay."

Chloe giggles a little and throws a chip at Aubrey. "Whatever."

The two girls sit in silence for another hour before Aubrey sees that Chloe has stopped typing and is leaning against the wall, fast asleep. She raises an eyebrow. "Chloe?"

No response, except for a little snore. Aubrey laughs a little, and picks up Chloe's laptop from her legs and looks over Chloe's essay, which is almost finished. She reads the essay that Chloe wrote about Holden Caulfield in "The Catcher In The Rye" and finishes it up for her.

Afterwards, she gently moves Chloe from her sitting position to lay her down on the bed, throwing the sheets over her. "Night Chloe," she says quietly, "you owe me your English mark."

Chloe only grunts and Aubrey laughs again.

She continues her essay on her desk with Chloe fast asleep behind her.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Aubrey's father's job needs him in Manhattan, which means another move for Aubrey, but this time, she's not going to make it easy for him.**

They're graduating this year. This can't really be happening. He can't do this to her.

"Daddy, I've made so many friends here. You can't just take that away from me."

Two years. After_ two years_ of her father seemingly finding solid ground on New York, he decides he will work in an office in Minnesota. She should have known it would all be pulled from under her feet, but she had been so immersed in her new social life that she hadn't even given a thought to this happening.

"I can't just leave."

Dean Posen just stands there, his arms crossed.

"You can't do this."

No response.

"Daddy, answer me!" Aubrey has tears in her eyes, and she does everything in her power to not throw the lamp next to her at a wall.

Dean sighs. "Aubrey, this will be good for you. You've spent too much time worrying about your social life, anyways."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that your grades have been faltering. You're always going out to hang out with that redhead-"

"Her name's Chloe! You have known her for almost two years now! Chloe Beale!"

Her dad arches an eyebrow. "Watch your tone, young lady._ Chloe Beale,_" he puts an unnecessary emphasis on her name, making Aubrey's fists curl into tight balls, "is not what we are talking about right now."

"Right. We were talking about my grades. My straight A's. Wow, I'm a horrible student-" Aubrey starts sarcastically.

"Your biology mark is at an 86%," he says.

"That's an A!"

"That is bare minimum. Is that what you want to be? The bare minimum?"

"I don't even like biology! You know that!"

"You think I like my job? I still go to it and succeed and do my best at it every day. I don't see why you can't do that for something as simple as biology."

"I don't see why you can't do something as simple as stay in one place. Mom's tired of it. I'm tired of it. You're the only person in this entire family who actually has a say in where we go, and it's not fair."

"Aubrey, you've never had a problem with moving before-"

"Because I never had friends before!" Aubrey's starting to shout again. "Because of you! Because I couldn't make friends!"

"The way you handle your social life has nothing to do with me and moving-"

"Fine! Leave! Go to Minnesota!" She yells, "I'm staying right here!"

Dean sighs again and pinches the area between his eyebrows. "And stay where?"

"Anywhere but a place where I have to be around you," Aubrey spits at him, running up to her room and starting to pack her things.

Her father is screaming."Aubrey Jean Posen, you get down here right this instant before I-"

"Before you do what?" She shouts back, her throat stinging with how loud she shouts. "What will you do? Ground me? I'm eighteen, soon, dad, and you won't be able to do shit." She shocks herself when she swears at her own father, Dean Posen, who flushes and starts screaming a stream of curse words up the stairs and she's crying and he's screaming and _oh my God_ it's a huge shit show and where is her mother-

She puts a few t-shirts and jeans and a toothbrush with her iPod in her duffel bag, runs downstairs, and bursts out the door before her father can stop her. She opens up her car door and drives to the first place she can think of.

Chloe opens the door and gives Aubrey a beaming smile. "Aubrey, hey-" her smile falters when she sees that Aubrey's face is streaked with tears and she's holding a duffel bag with a t-shirt hanging out of it and Chloe understands.

She steps back from the door, letting Aubrey in. Aubrey throws her bag on the ground and collapses, her body absolutely racking with sobs, in Chloe's arms.

Chloe doesn't say a word. For the first time in her life, she has nothing to say. She just holds her best friend_ tight tight tight_, as tight as she can, as if Aubrey could break apart at any second if she doesn't hold her together.

Chloe's mom comes down to the front door to see what the commotion is all about. She sees Aubrey in her daughter's arms and slowly walks down the stairs to the front door and rubs Aubrey's back while Chloe holds her.

"I'll make some Chai tea for you, love," Chloe's mom says in a gentle voice. She walks back up the stairs.

This then becomes the first time Aubrey stress vomits, too. She's horrified when she feels her stomach heave, and she runs to the bathroom and it's all gone.

She's horrified again when she sees that Chloe has been behind her the whole time and is now holding her hair. "No-" she gasps in between heaves, "Please. You don't have to see this."

Chloe still hasn't said anything and is now rubbing small circles into Aubrey's back.

Once Aubrey is done, Chloe passes her a cup of water, flushes the toilet for her, and leads her to the sink where Aubrey rinses her mouth out.

She starts crying again, from the things her father said to her and the fact that she could be gone from New York next week and the fact that she has just made a complete embarrassment out of herself in front of her best friend.

But then she looks at Chloe, who is still holding her, and makes eye contact with her for the first time tonight and Chloe has nothing but concern and reassurance in those blue, blue eyes and Aubrey's not embarrassed anymore.

Chloe leads her to the floor of her bathroom and lets Aubrey cry out the last of her tears.

"Bree?" Chloe asks quietly when Aubrey's crying dies down a little. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"My father" is the only thing Aubrey can manage before bursting into tears again, but that's all Chloe really needs to hear to know what's happening.

"You can stay here for as long as you like," Chloe whispers into Aubrey's hair. Aubrey can only nod and give Chloe a watery smile before she is able to stand on her own feet.

They spend the rest of the night watching reruns of "_Friends_" and eat strawberry flavored ice cream and drink the Chai tea Chloe's mom made without saying a word to each other and this alone makes Aubrey feel better.

That's when she knows she's found a soul mate in Chloe; not in a romantic way, no, but a soul mate nonetheless.

**A/N: Sorry that this wasn't as happy as the other ones! Thanks to all of the positive reviews, keep reviewing, please! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys. I've been away all weekend at a huge conference for my school and didn't get the chance to post this chapter until today. I've been working on this while I've been away but our hotel doesn't have any freakin' wifi (what hotel in 2013 doesn't have wifi? Seriously?) so I couldn't actually go on the website to post it. **

**In this fluffy chapter (to make up for the slightly upsetting chapter prior to this) Aubrey and Chloe are graduating from high school, which means…(drum roll) they go to Barden! Which then means….(another drum roll, please) Beca is soon to be introduced! They talk about their futures and dreams together. It's really fluffy. Like bunny rabbits. Hope you enjoy this. Keep the reviews coming, please! Constructive criticism is always welcome. J**

Aubrey's father decided to make the move to Manhattan.

Alone.

He and Aubrey's mother had not divorced, no, but her mother threatened to do it if he forced the family to make another move. They came to a compromise, involving Aubrey getting a better biology mark (to Aubrey's great chagrin, but she knew it was better than nothing) and focusing more on her schoolwork. So Aubrey's father was in Manhattan, and Aubrey and her mother stayed in Seattle.

Of course Chloe is _ecstatic _after she hears the news. She gives Aubrey the going-away presents she was going to give to Aubrey when she left the next day, with _"Aubrey's going-away present" _ on the bag roughly crossed out and saying "_Aubrey's not going-away present yay!'"_

In the rather large bag there are assorted dark chocolates (because Aubrey _loves _assorted dark chocolates), a mix CD ("Don't listen to that when you're in a good mood. I was going to make you really miss me and come back to Seattle after you listened to that because it's such a sad playlist," Chloe says in a warning voice when Aubrey takes it out of the bag), a picture frame with a picture of Aubrey and Chloe in it ("Just so you would never forget my face," Chloe teases with a wink), a copy of _The Catcher In the Rye _("I know it's your favorite book. Also, it's a reminder and thanks for saving my ass on that English paper that night."), and an oversized card completely filled with Chloe's neat handwriting ("Don't read that while I'm here. I don't want you to feel like you have to react the way you think you want me to react.")

By the time Aubrey's pulled the card out, though, she's reacting almost exactly the way Chloe wanted her to react, _almost _exactly because she's crying and Chloe didn't want Aubrey to cry, but it's okay because they are happy tears and Aubrey is smiling so hard her face might split open.

After a moment, Aubrey's smile tones down a little."Chloe—"

Chloe gently puts a hand on Aubrey's arm to silence her. "You don't have to. It's enough that you're staying." Chloe sees Aubrey's face fall a little and gets concerned. "What's wrong?"

"We're graduating this year."

"So?"

Aubrey sighs. "We're sitting here talking about how I'm staying, but we're leaving high school in less than four months and going off to separate universities."

Chloe's still confused. She takes her hand off Aubrey's arm. "What's wrong with that?"

Aubrey looks down and starts fiddling with her fingers. "Chloe, I've been meaning to tell this to you, but I thought it would be upsetting on top of the fact that I was already probably leaving."

"But you're not leaving, so tell me now."

Aubrey looks Chloe straight in the eye and nods. "Yesterday, I got an acceptance letter in the mail. From Barden University. In Georgia."

Chloe's got this stunned look on her face. "What?"

"I'm sorry, I meant to tell you—" Aubrey stops when she sees that Chloe's suddenly smiling her mega-watt Chloe Beale smile. "What are you smiling at?"

"Well, first off, congratulations! Barden is an incredible school, and I hear it's difficult to get into."

Aubrey's a little worried, because Chloe's still smiling and the words coming out of her mouth don't really fit the expression of pure, elated joy on her face. "Thanks…"

"Second…" Chloe, without warning, grabs Aubrey's arms and hoists her up, beginning to jump up and down. "I was accepted to Barden, too! _Ohmygod_ Aubrey, I wasn't going to tell you until later because you were moving and you never said anything about being accepted and I know you've wanted to go to this school _forever_ and I thought for a bit that maybe I had been accepted and you hadn't and I knew that would upset you and—"

"Wait, what?!" Aubrey has been jumping up and down with Chloe and hadn't really comprehended what Chloe was saying until now, "We're going to Barden together?"

"_We're going to Barden together_!" Chloe shouts at the top of her lungs, giving Aubrey a crushing hug.

They spend the rest of the night talking about living on res together and what they are majoring in (Chloe in social sciences and psychology, Aubrey in law). Chloe decides to go home after a while, since it's midnight and they both have school tomorrow.

Aubrey goes up to her room and gathers the presents Chloe gave her into the bag and realizes she hasn't read the card yet. She picks it up, sits on her bed, and starts to read.

_Bree,_

_I don't think I've ever cried as hard as I did when you first told me you were moving. I know I probably came off like it wasn't a big deal in front of you, but that was because I know how crappy it would be for you if I had a breakdown in front of you. I hope that doesn't make you feel bad now but we tell each other everything about how we're feeling and I thought it was necessary to tell you how I'm feeling about you leaving._

_I just wanted to write this to tell you how much I love you for everything you have done for me. I can't tell you how thankful I am that I decided to approach you in the cafeteria that day in grade 9, and how thankful I am that you decided to let me in and how you continue to trust me.  
_

_The way I trust you doesn't even compare to the way I trust our other friends. I love them, don't get me wrong, but with you…I'm pretty sure you know more things about me than I know about myself. You let me take these huge weights off my shoulders when I tell you these secrets about me and the best part is you do the same with me so I guess we're kind of like balanced weights? I don't know. I'm sorry, I'm rambling again like I always do.  
_

_Anyways, I just wanted to say that as sad as I am to see you go I will continue to be there for you. We can call and text and skype all the time and I'll even come visit when I can, because my mom says we have an uncle who lives in Minnesota so my mom could drive us up and she could stay with him and I could stay with you. I hope you'll continue to be here for me, though I have no doubt that you will because you're you and you are an amazing person no matter what anyone, especially your father, says.  
_

_So, in conclusion, Aubrey, I love you so much and I'll miss our impromptu sleepovers and coffee dates but I know we'll see each other again soon.  
_

_Love always,  
Chloe_


	6. Chapter 6

Chloe and Aubrey shuffle into their dorm room - literally shuffle, because they are both so tired - and flop on Chloe's bed.

They're halfway into their first year as university students at Barden and they have never experienced anything more stressful in either of their lives.

They also thought that they could easily handle being in a club along with going to class and working, so they joined an acapella group called the Barden Bellas. The Barden Bellas seemed to be all about singing and dancing and having fun, and Chloe and Aubrey loved singing and dancing and having fun so they figured _why not?_

Once they started going to rehearsals, they found out exactly _why not_. The leader, Alice, was, to be frank, mean. There were rehearsals every day where she forced them to dance stiff, "traditional" dances in heels, and she would constantly put the girls down with insults about their weight and bad dancing.

Neither of them really gave up though; especially not Aubrey. She had joined this club because her father had told her, "If you're going to take a course as wishy-washy as law in a school as wishy-washy as Barden, you might as well join a club so you won't completely be doing nothing," and she was determined to prove to him that law at Barden was not, in fact, "_wishy-washy_" and that she could handle being in a club while she was there.

Chloe could barely count the times she would walk into their dorm room to find Aubrey crying on her bed about how her father had called her an idiot for missing a morning class, or making snide remarks about her joining the Bellas - which she had mainly done because her father wanted her to join a club. "He doesn't think it's a good enough club," she stated once, "and that he had hoped I would put this "childish singing and dancing thing" behind me when I graduated."

Aubrey didn't quit the Bellas, though, since she was now determined to prove to her father that it wasn't childish.

Chloe joined the Bellas because Aubrey wanted to join, and Chloe loved singing and dancing, even though Alice sometimes ruined it for her.

Aubrey found herself pulling all-nighters more and more often, as the Bellas' rehearsals happened every day and she could only work on her various papers for law at night. Chloe would often wake up to see her best friend hunched over her laptop, almost in tears, at 4 in the morning, and she would get up and go get Aubrey's favorite coffee from the 24-hour coffee shop on the other side of campus and set it beside her gently, giving her a short back or neck massage before fading back to sleep.

Today, Chloe is just about ready to pass out after an excessively long Bellas practice.

"I can't believe Alice made us do all that cardio today. We're going to be too burnt out for the ICCA's," she groans.

Aubrey's voice is laced with exhaustion. "Don't say that. By the way, how are things going with that guy you met at the sigma beta theta party? Tim or Terry or whatever?"

"Tom."

"Whatever. I can't even keep track with you anymore."

Chloe's slightly offended, but she lets it slide because she knows Aubrey's just tired and stressed. "We're fine. We're just friends with benefits. I don't really want to date anyone anymore for a while."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Not 'til the perfect person comes along."

"You thought Melissa was the perfect person a few months ago. Look how that turned out."

Chloe throws a quick glare at Aubrey. "I thought we promised to never talk about her."

"Mmph. Sorry," Aubrey mumbles, her eyes slowly closing.

Chloe's starting to fall asleep, herself, when out of the corner of her eyes, she sees Aubrey's eyes snap open and she sees her rushing out of bed to her desk.

"Shit," Aubrey says, "I have a mock trial paper to finish for Dr. Taylor tomorrow."

Chloe sits up a little, wincing as her back muscles burn in protest. She sighs. "Bree, it's not going to kill your marks if you don't hand in one paper. You need to stop stressing out."

It's late and they are both exhausted and sensitive, Aubrey more than Chloe. She turns around quickly, with a very angry frown on her face. "Excuse me?"

Chloe's a little taken aback. "I'm just saying that you need sleep. Calm down."

"Do you even understand what all of this means to me? To my _father_? I can't just "not hand in one paper." That could mean an entire grade to me."

"Bree, you have to stop living life for your father. It's taking over your life, and-"

"Stop it, Chloe," Aubrey says in a loud voice, "I'm sick of you pretending like you're the calm, reassuring one who knows all because you don't know all."

Chloe's realizing that this is her and Aubrey's first fight and she makes the conscious decision to back off. "Okay, Aubrey. I'm sorry."

But Aubrey has gotten 4 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours and she won't have any of it. "Sorry? Do you have a father who calls you a waste of time and space? Who puts you down no matter what you do? A father who will never be happy with you? Do you, Chloe?"

Chloe's taken aback again. "He said that to you?" she says quietly.

Aubrey starts to tear up. "Yeah, he did. And Alice. She called me fat today. Again. She's at least nice to you, but she hates me."

"Aubrey, I'm so sorry-"

Aubrey swivels around in her chair to turn her back to Chloe. "Not tonight, Chloe."

"Bree-"

"Don't."

Chloe can't possibly fall asleep now. She nods a little and slowly gets up from her bed. "I'm going to go take a walk."

"Whatever."

Chloe bites her lower lip a little before stepping outside. She walks around campus a little, the peacefulness of midnight on campus starting to help her calm down a little bit, when the events of what just happened hit her and she's crouched on the ground in front of the empty pool, crying.

They're heavy sobs racking her body, and each sob hurts her overworked ab muscles, which makes her cry more. This is the first time in almost 3 years her and Aubrey have had a full-blown fight like this, and she has no idea how to handle it.

She's still crying when she feels someone put their hand on her back behind her, and she shoots up, startled, and faces whoever it is behind her.

It's Aubrey, who has tears on her face as well, and it only takes them a second of just looking at each other before they're hugging each other as tight as they can, almost as tightly as that time Chloe held Aubrey after the huge fight with her father about moving away in grade 12.

"I'm so sorry," Aubrey says between sobs, "I was tired and my father-"

"Stop it. Don't be sorry. I shouldn't have said that to you," Chloe says back through tears, "besides, this is our first fight. This is a big step in our friendship."

Aubrey lets out a watery laugh and buries her face in Chloe's scarf.

Chloe starts laughing, too. "Look at us. It's almost one in the morning and we're standing beside an empty pool crying our eyes out."

"We're both hot messes," Aubrey says, laughing with Chloe.

The two let go of each other, still laughing.

"Let's go get you some coffee before you tackle that law paper."

Aubrey nods, and they walk over to the 24-hour coffee shop, arms linked together just like the way they were in grade 9 after they first met.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Say hi to Beca, everyone (finally). This chapter is, like, 200% fluff. Enjoy.**

"She's totally the one."

Chloe's practically bouncing around her and Aubrey's dorm room.

Aubrey rolls her eyes. They've just come from the activities fair, not having recruited a single new Bella, and the only thing Chloe seems to be concerned with was some petite brunette she pushed a flyer at her face to.

"Chloe, you talked to her for all of _five minutes_. Also, you need to learn how to hide a toner, because holy shit, NASA could spot your toner for her from _Saturn_ or something—"

"She's so _adorable_. And tiny. Adorably tiny. But also really sexy in a mysterious way. When you called her a bitch, which, by the way, was mean—"

"She was making fun of us!"

"—did you see that sassy face she made? That was _really_ sexy." Chloe lets out a happy little sigh and twirls a little, her blue plaid dress swirling a little.

Aubrey watches, rolling her eyes."You're acting like a little schoolgirl. Which is what this is. A little schoolgirl crush. Do you even know her _name_?"

"No. Anyway, you just don't like her because she dissed the Bellas."

"I don't like her because she acts like she hates everything and she's too good for the world—"

"You can't just assume that after five minutes."

"You can't assume she's the one after five minutes. Plus, I bet she's straight. She's totally going to end up dating some guy who hates the world equally as much as she seems to, or she's going to go for the cliché nice guy that changes her life and makes her love the world. And your heart is going to be broken into tiny, little pieces that _I'm_ going to have to superglue together."

Chloe raises her hands in mock defense."You're gonna hurt yourself talking this much, Bree. Besides, she didn't seem to _hate_ the world."

"He-llo? Did you even look at her? All the eyeliner and those things in her ears—"

"I liked them."

"She could have green hair and you'd like it."

Chloe wrinkles her nose and throws a pillow at Aubrey. "Shush."

"Seriously, Chlo. You're doing that thing again."

"What thing?"

"That thing where you fall for someone hard and fast without even thinking about it first."

Chloe shrugs."Nothing wrong with that."

"Except you usually end up falling hard on concrete."

"That's an excellent metaphor. You're good at those."

Aubrey sighs, recognizing that Chloe wants to change the subject to avoid talking about the people she fell on concrete for. She flops on to her bed. "Thanks," she mumbles.

Chloe throws another pillow at Aubrey. "Come on, Bree. Lighten up."

Aubrey frowns. "The Bellas are a joke now because of me. How am I supposed to 'lighten up'?"

"Alice isn't here anymore. How awesome is that?"

"Neither are the rest of the Bellas. And no one will even come near us anymore after my—the _incident_. Did you not hear what Bologna Barb said?"

Chloe hesitates."Projectile vomiting isn't that bad. Besides, that Australian— Fat Amy— was promising."

Aubrey purses her lips. "Projectile vomiting is bad when you're in front of a crowd of thousands at the Lincoln center with cameras everywhere."

Another shrug.

Aubrey can't get mad at Chloe, though, because the night of the projectile vomiting incident, Chloe was the only one who stayed by Aubrey's side out of all of the Bellas on the stage.

"I need us to do well now more than ever, Chloe."

"I know."

"I finally get a solo and my dad _actually_ seems semi-happy about it and then I ruin it—"

"You can show him this year."

"I'm just saying, what if no one shows up to auditions?"

"I hope that girl shows up to auditions."

It's Aubrey's turn to throw a pillow. "Seriously, Chloe? The Bellas are at stake here and all you can talk about is that—that alt girl?"

"She has really nice eyes. They're a nice shade of dark blue."

"Let's be honest here. Her eyes weren't the only things you were thinking about, were they?"

"Nope. I bet she's awesome in bed," Chloe adds in a mischievous tone.

Aubrey groans and rolls over. "Rhetorical question, Chloe."

"She is so adorable and sexy. How does someone even pull that off? Sexy and adorable."

"We are not talking about the alt girl anymore until you've at least seen her naked or something."

"But—"

"Nope. If you keep talking about it, you're going to keep falling for her, and it's probably going to cause a lot of stress for the two of us. And stress," Aubrey adds, "is the last thing I need right now."

Chloe flops on her own bed. "Fine. Until I've seen her naked."

"I was kidding."

"I wasn't."

Aubrey throws another pillow aimed directly at Chloe's head.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Really short chapter, sorry guys. Looks like the consensus was for me to upload this short (fluffy) chapter and then possibly change it to a multishot series instead of keeping as a one-shot series. We'll see. Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

"She is so arrogant."

Aubrey's pacing in her and Chloe's dorm as Chloe watches her, slightly amused.

"I thought she was incredible," Chloe says, "I mean, it takes a lot of talent to be able to use something as simple as a _cup_ as a backing track."

"Acapella means only using our voices. We do everything _with our mouths_ as you worded so well back at the activities fair. She couldn't just rely on natural talent, or have the song prepared? She just sauntered in, expecting to just get a chance because she's the _awesome_ alt girl who is too good for everyone." Aubrey shakes her head."I still can't believe you just let her audition. 'Oh, sing anything you like,'_"_ Aubrey mocks Chloe, causing Chloe to roll her eyes, "'just as long as I get to see you naked again _and _we sing my lady jam together—'"

Chloe turns bright red. "We don't talk about my lady jam. Ever."

"Whatever. Normal people don't fall in love with strangers because they sang with them naked in a shower. Scratch that. Normal people don't sing naked with strangers in the shower, period."

"Come on, Aubrey. You can't deny that she's got the talent and the voice for the Bellas."

Aubrey stops pacing for a moment. "You're just saying that because she's, like, the lady love of your life."

Chloe ignores her."You know what would have been awesome?"

"If you saw her naked again?"

"No, that would be hot," Chloe responds, smirking when Aubrey groans and resumes her pacing.

"That was another rhetorical question, Chlo."

"I just thought it would be awesome if you would let her in the Bellas."

Aubrey stares at Chloe. "She doesn't have the right look for the Bellas."

"Neither did half the girls who auditioned."

"Or the right _attitude, _at that. "

"Did you say her audition paper was in here?" Chloe asks, leaning over to grab the pile of audition papers from Aubrey's desk.

"Chloe! Are you even _listening_ to what I'm saying?"

"Nope. It's all going in one ear and jumping out the other. I'm just kidding," Chloe says, giggling when Aubrey opens her mouth in anger. She flips through the papers to find one that has been hastily scrawled on and is missing a picture. "This hers?"

Aubrey nods curtly before going to her laptop to start a research paper. Chloe scans the audition paper with a mega-watt Chloe Beale smile.

"Her name's Beca Mitchell."

"Fascinating," Aubrey says in a deadpan voice.

"Come _on,_ Bree," Chloe says, putting the paper down and walking over to Aubrey, wrapping her arms around her shoulders from behind, "Give her a chance."

"She's on strike one already after that stunt at auditions."

"That's fine. She still has two more strikes."

Aubrey sighs and turns around so she's facing Chloe. "Chlo, I'm just saying, keep your guard up, okay? Don't get your hopes up too high."

"You should have seen us in the shower, though—"

"I don't want to have seen you two in the shower."

"You know what I meant. I'm saying that there was a connection there. She couldn't take her eyes off me," Chloe adds in a triumphant voice.

"Chloe, she probably thought you were some serial killer and was half scared to death."

"She didn't look scared."

"How would you know? You were probably too busy staring at her—lady bits," Aubrey stammers the last part, gesturing to said "lady parts" on Chloe with her hand.

"Was not!"

Aubrey just sits there and eyes Chloe with a very skeptical look in her eyes.

"I only looked, like, three times. Or four," Chloe says hastily when Aubrey continues eying her. "Uh, I've got to go to psych now. Figure out who you want on the Bellas and text me when you're ready to kidnap the girls for initiation night. Dibs on kidnapping Beca!" she adds as she breezes out the door.

"I'm still considering her!" Aubrey yells behind Chloe.

"For me!" Chloe says, her voice now faint as she continues walking.

Aubrey sighs, shaking her head. "I can't believe I'm doing this."

She puts Beca Mitchell's audition form in the "approved" pile on her desk.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I know this is a little out of order but I had to do that to accommodate to writing about Aubrey's experience at hood night. Sorry for the long wait, it's been a busy week at school (and life).**

Hood night is pretty much the biggest disaster Aubrey has ever witnessed.

The night starts off fine, the new (and slightly questionable) Bellas more or less enjoying themselves at the party. She scans the crowd to see Corey grinding with Donald of the _Trebles_ and she purses her lips a little.

Chloe's completely gone wild, of course, because Chloe drinks vodka like it's water at these parties, which is problematic because she is such a lightweight. She walks (more like stumbles) up to Aubrey.

"Bree!" She almost yells, making Aubrey flinch, "Why the long face? Are you a horse?" She laughs at her own joke. "Get it? Because horses have long faces?" She giggles again as Aubrey rolls her eyes.

"Corey's probably going to end up hooking up with Donald over there," she explains, gesturing to the pair.

"Oh...I liked her voice," Chloe says, frowning. She takes a sip out of her cup.

Aubrey raises an eyebrow. "Haven't you had enough of that?"

"Never enough," Chloe says, grinning.

"You're border lining alcoholism, here."

Chloe giggles again. "Hi, my name is Chloe and I am an alcoholic who doesn't think her best friend should kick someone out of the Bellas b'cause they were feeling a little drunk and horny-"

"Chloe, you know the rules."

"I'm just saying it sucks."

Aubrey nods grimly, turning to look at the pair again. "Rules are rules. She took an oath."

She turns back around to see that Chloe's looking at something over Aubrey's left shoulder with this mixture of devastating sadness and unadulterated rage.

"Wha-" Aubrey looks over her shoulder to see what Chloe's staring at and sees that one guy-Jesse?-drunkenly (and shamelessly) flirting with Beca. She glares at the two for a little while.

"Isn't he a Treble, now?" Aubrey asks, facing Chloe, who has now started fidgeting with her red solo cup.

Chloe shrugs, staring down at her cup. "Dunno."

"Well, do _something_," Aubrey says, "I can't lose another Bella because they've been Treble-boned-"

"Shut up," Chloe snaps,"Beca isn't going to get 'Treble-boned'. She's better than that. Besides," she says, "Beca doesn't even really look interested."

"For serious, Chloe," Aubrey says, "Go occupy her."

Chloe mock salutes Aubrey and walks crookedly up the stairs, walking past Jesse, who now seems to be on his way to the beer keg.

_Shit_, Aubrey thinks to herself as she sees Chloe grab Beca's hands and pull her _very_ close. _Maybe I should have worded things better than 'occupy her_'.

She decides to go dance with the crowd after a very strange conversation with the talkative, filter-less Australian, Fat Amy, and after a little bit of that, she turns to see Chloe locking lips _Tom, _of all the people she could be locking lips with, then looks around for Beca and sees her back with Jesse, who is obnoxiously shouting something, and she understands why Chloe is where she is.

Aubrey looks back at Chloe, who is clinging to Tom with a grasp that seems almost _desperate_, with a sad look on her face. She knows that the night will inevitably lead to Chloe coming back to their dorm and bawling her eyes out, because not only is Chloe a flirtatious, silly drunk, she is also an overly emotional one when it comes to it.

She's right, too, because once they get back to their dorm, Chloe's a complete wreck. Aubrey sits with her on her bed rubbing her back as she cries.

"I mean," Chloe says between sobs, "I get that I don't have a right to be angry or jealous, but I thought we had something-"

"Chloe, Beca didn't even seem that interested in Jesse in the first place."

Chloe looks up at Aubrey with watery eyes that have a slight glint of hope. "Really?"

"Really. But my statement still stands. I have no idea why you're even into her in the first place."

"Neither do I, really," Chloe says wistfully, sniffling a little, "I just _am_, you know?"

_No, _Aubrey thinks to herself. "Yeah, for sure."

"I'm going to sleep now. Rehearsals tomorrow and all. 'Night, Bree," Chloe murmurs, slipping into her bedsheets and fading into sleep.

"'Night."

Aubrey contemplates storming over to Beca's dorm and yelling at her because the last time Aubrey saw Chloe this heartbroken was when Melissa dumped her almost two years ago, but she goes against it and goes to lie on her own bed.

"Strike two, Beca Mitchell," she mutters under her breath.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sooo..I can't say I have the best excuse ever for not updating this in almost a month. I just wasn't feeling very inspired to write for this and decided I'd spare you guys from having to read any really bad chapters. Without further ado, here's chapter 10! Thanks to everyone who's followed this so far, it really means a lot! **

**In this chapter, Chloe builds her relationship with Beca more, and later on reveals that she has nodes. **

Aubrey sees a lot of Beca nowadays.

Whenever she's working on a term paper in her and Chloe's dorm room, Beca and Chloe are usually sitting on the bed next to her, Beca working on some mix while Chloe watches, staring at her and completely enraptured in whatever it is Beca's doing. Aubrey resists the urge to roll her eyes every time, because Chloe's _so _smitten with her and Beca's obviously smitten with Chloe (she can tell because Beca's face lights up every time Chloe compliments her on one of her mixes or whenever Chloe laughs or whenever Chloe talks or whenever Chloe sneezes) and they're sitting there acting like they're the best of friends.

Okay, maybe she's a _little _jealous that she doesn't spend nearly as much time with Chloe as she used to, but Chloe seems more than happy with Beca and Aubrey decides to be understanding about that, even though she _still _doesn't understand what's so great about her, or the mixes that she makes (because she's usually wearing those god-awful, _huge _headphones to listen to them for herself or sharing earbuds with Chloe).

The SBT mixer is today, though, and Aubrey has no time or patience to deal with Chloe's persistently _huge _toner for Beca. She knows that the Bellas aren't good enough yet. _They just don't listen to her, _and it's the most infuriating thing Aubrey has had to deal with in a while.

They're all waiting, standing along the stairs leading up to the fraternity house (or sorority? Aubrey doesn't know, or care), and Chloe won't stop talking to Beca, even though they're up to start performing in less than a minute.

"Chloe!" Aubrey snaps, her nerves getting in the way of any even temper she might have had. Chloe's head jerks towards Aubrey, nodding slightly as she moves forward to her position in the front.

"Sorry," she mouths, grinning and then turning around to wink at Beca.

Aubrey rolls her eyes and starts to count the girls in, hoping to god they won't sound as bad as they did yesterday at rehearsals.

It starts off alright, the first few notes of "The Sign" coming together relatively smooth…

And then it all came crashing down.

They get booed off the steps by the various people watching and laughing, and Howie says something to Aubrey about how the Bellas are a "barnyard explosion" and Aubrey feels like she's going to puke again because she's realizing that she might actually not have the Bellas together like she was hoping they would.

She's scolding the Bellas on their walk back to the auditorium when she realizes that Chloe's just…standing there, staring off into the distance with slightly misty eyes. Aubrey doesn't really realize how harsh her tone is when she says, "For serious, Chloe! What is _wrong _with you?"

Chloe doesn't even look at her when she whirls around, and Aubrey catches her making direct eye contact with Beca. "I have nodes," she says, her voice quavering a little. Aubrey looks at Beca, who looks just about as confused as the few Bellas who aren't gasping or staring at Chloe with sympathetic looks in their eyes, and turns back to Chloe.

"What?" she says, her voice softening, "Oh my god." She takes Chloe's hands in hers, and Chloe brings her watery eyes to Aubrey's, nodding slightly. Aubrey's heart hurts for Chloe, because she knows that Chloe takes great pride in her upper register and nodes could seriously damage that. She knows how much Chloe loves to sing.

After a slightly heart wrenching speech from Chloe about how she'll continue to sing (and a _really _weird comment from Amy about herpes), the only people left in the quad are Aubrey, Chloe, and Beca. Chloe looks at Aubrey for a minute, and Aubrey knows what she's asking of her before she even has to say anything. She nods and tightens her grip on Chloe's hands before giving a warning look to Beca, as if to say _don't you dare say anything wrong to her, _and Beca gives Aubrey a slightly questioning look before turning to Chloe.

"Are you okay?" Aubrey hears Beca say quietly as she starts to walk past them on her way back to her dorm, and she sees her give Chloe a slightly awkward hug. After passing them, Aubrey looks behind her shoulder to see that Chloe's head is resting on Beca's shoulder as she hugs her back and Chloe smiles at Aubrey, who gives her a reassuring smile back.

Aubrey would deny this to her grave, but she's almost glad that Chloe's got Beca to be there for her, regardless of the fact that she's still slightly jealous that she isn't the one giving Chloe the reassuring hug Beca's giving her.

"You're so screwed, Chloe Beale," she says under her breath, smiling on her way back to her dorm.


End file.
